High School Life
by milkahasii
Summary: When Ino starts High School at a new Boarding School she doesn't know a Thing about it. There's something fishy about the School, she's sure of that and she's determined to find out who and what's behind it.
1. Chapter 1

"OI! Blondie!"

Her head jerked up. It turned in search of the cause of the sound and found it immediately. Azure eyes were staring directly into her own.

"Huh?" She asked, still a little confused.

"Sorry to wake you, but are those seats taken?"

Ino blinked. She needed another second to realize that those eyes belonged to someone. Specifically, they belonged to a boy. A blond sunnyboy at about her age. And he was staring at her, patiently waiting for her answer.

She drew a breath to tell him to sit somewhere else, but as she looked around briefly, her seats were actually almost the last ones unoccupied.

"Sure." She sighed as she released the air again and hurried to pull her feet off of the seat opposite her and move her bag from next to her onto her lap.

"Thanks." The blond smiled and sat with his two friends who had mysteriously appeared behind him.

Ino hummed in response and repositioned her head and shoulder against the cold window before she closed her eyes again.

"Erm..." The blond cleared his throat opposite her.

The girl drew another deep breath and tried to ignore it. She wanted to _sleep,_ damn it!

"Er-ehrm." The boy tried again.

"What?" Ino growled at him as she opened her eyes.

"Well, sorry, but shouldn't you tell us where you want to exit when you're going back to sleep? I mean we could wake you up, couldn't we?" He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, obviously caused by her snappy response.

Ino blinked again. That was smart.

"Sure, thanks. My exit's this boarding school... What's it's name? Klo- Kora-... Whatever."

The blond boy's eyes lit up.

"Konoha Institution?" He almost squealed.

"Errr... Yes?"

"Awesome!" He yelled, causing not only Ino to flinch slightly. "We're going there, too! Whew, and I thought we'd have to find the way all by ourselves."

"Oh!" Ino's mood brightened. She had thought she would have to go all alone, too, she was relieved she found someone to calm her excitement. "Great! I'm Yamanaka Ino."

"Uzumaki Naruto." The blond boy grinned back. Only now Ino noticed three little horizontal scars on each of his cheeks. "And those are my friends-"

"Naruto, we can introduce ourselves, you know." The boy next to Naruto intervened.

Ino directed her attention towards him for the first time now. He had dark brown hair, almost black, his eyes just as dark. He looked a little like a yankee with his hair all long and up in a ponytail. The yankee-boy looked at her, boredom the only obvious emotion on his face.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru. Nice to meet you, I guess."

"Uchiha Sasuke." Came a voice from her right that made her jump. She had totally forgotten his presence - he was so quiet!

Now she turned to look at him and this time was sure of his pure jetblack hair. It shimmered in a shade of blue and his eyes were just as dark as Shika... Shika... What's-his-name's. She would learn his name eventually, she shrugged mentally. And if they didn't meet again... well, then she wouldn't.

"Nice to meet you, too." Ino smiled with a quick look at the two.

She turned back to Naruto and saw his eyes snap back up to her face. He had totally checked her out! She tried to hide her grin. Then she remembered what she was wearing and couldn't blame him anymore. A short lilac skirt and a white Snoopy-shirt combined with black Converse weren't her fanciest outfit - oh no, by _far_ - and her long blonde hair was up in a ponytail and lay smoothly over her right shoulder. Oh well, travelclothes.

She bit her lip. She could've slapped herself. She may have barely glanced at them, but Ino's trained eye had immediately seen that those three were pretty hot. Ohh, why did she _have_ to choose comfortable clothes over pretty clothes?!

Naruto must've seen her unease, because he pulled out a necklace from under his shirt and showed her a golden Snoopy dangling from the chain. He grinned at her and she returned the grin gratefully.

"So, which year are you in, Ino?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said from Ino's right.

"What?"

"Shouldn't you at least _ask _Yamanaka-san first, if you could adress her by her first name?" He sighed and shot her an apologetic look.

"Oh that's okay." Ino said quickly, before Naruto could open his mouth to retort to his friend. "I don't like all that last name-stuff anyway."

"Fine, _Ino."_ Sasuke poked his tongue out at her and she laughed.

"You okay with that?" She asked him and glanced at Shikamaru, too.

"Sure."

"Whatever."

"So, which year, Ino?" Naruto repeated his question, glad that that had been settled.

"I'm just starting High School." Ino smiled.

"So we're in the same year! Maybe we'll have some classes together!" The blond smiled brightly.

"Ha! If Shikamaru and I are lucky, we're rid of you soon!" Sasuke grinned and Shikamaru gave a scoff.

"What?! Why?! That's not nice, Teme!"

"Oh, I'd be glad to have you, so I'll take him from you." Ino said casually.

"Ha!" Naruto told to his friends proudly.

The three grinned at each other and even Shikamaru couldn't completely supress the smile that tugged on the corners of his mouth.

Ino was surprised how well they got along although she knew the boys for fifteen minutes at most. She felt comfortable with each of them, even the silent Shikamaru. With Naruto it was like they had known each other forever already. They were like a well-working machine, knowing immediately how to support each other against the other two. That was _way _weird, but she dismissed the thought for the time being.

One and a half hours later they slowly approached their exit. Ino was happy that she would breathe some fresh air soon and have a break from laughing - her sides and cheeks were hurting already.

"So, what kind of boarding school is this? My parents told me almost nothing, they just send me here and said it was 'long decided' that I would enter for High School. I know nothing!" The blonde girl asked her new friends curiously.

"We noticed that." Chuckled Shikamaru.  
>"Yeah, you can't even remember the damn name." Sasuke laughed beneath her.<p>

She glared at the two and turned towards Naruto.

"So?"

"Well, it's a normal boarding school, isn't it. It's in the mountains, but else... it's just a boarding school." He informed her, his gaze darting from Sasuke to Shikamaru for reassurance.

The two were barely holding in their laughs, Ino could tell from their lips pressed together tightly.

"Oh Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed. "You know almost as much as Blondie here - as in _nothing_!"

Ino glared at Sasuke for the use of her new nickname.

"Ha! What did you expect, Sasuke? They're both blondes!" Shikamaru burst out and he and Sasuke roared with laughter.

Ino and Naruto exchanged quick glances of reassurance before their fists collided with their neighbour's heads.

"OW!" They bellowed, little tears in the corner of their eyes could be seen, although it was unclear to Ino, whether those were from the punches or from the laughing fits.

"Oh, shut up." Ino said.

"So, what's up with that boarding school?" Naruto asked unnerved, while eyeing the still gasping boys.

Shikamaru wiped the last tears away and eventually decided to share his wisdom with the two blondes.

"Okay, look, it's a casual boarding school like any other, except that it's pretty hidden in the mountains. That's why it takes us that long to get there and the students live in a little village of their own on campus, with small grocery stores and stuff like that. The _special_ aspect about it, if you want to call it that, is that there's a separated class. It's a P.E. class. The students of the P.E. class are trained in several sports and are often separated from the rest of the school."

"The dorms are separated into Elementary, Middle and High School." Sasuke added.

"There are Elementary students there?!" Ino asked exasperatedly.

"Yes, but don't worry, there are separate houses for the P.E. students." Nasty grins flashed over Shikamaru and Sasuke's faces. "They are also taught separately in the basic subjects, like Math and English."

"They're almost a school for themselves, it's tradition." Sasuke shrugged.

Ino and Naruto's eyes grew larger with admiration. That sounded awesome!

"How do I get into that P.E. class?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"You would have had to apply before start of term, then you'd had to send in all your medical data, to see if you're fit enough or something. That's the usual way to get in. But you can also be accepted belatedly,when you're good enough, that is." The Nara-boy answered.

"No chance else?" Ino asked.

"Nope."

"Aww man! I hope my foster parents have applied for me to get in!" Naruto said and punched his leg in anticipation.

"Foster parents?" Ino looked at the blond in confusion.

"Oh... yeah, well..." Naruto scratched the back of his head again. "My parents died when I was a few weeks old..."

The girl's eyes became sad immediately.

"It's okay! Really! Misami and Heiji are super cool! They're almost like my real parents! I love them more than anything!" He exclaimed in a flash and grinned.

Ino's gaze warmed up. She had never met such a cheerful boy that dealt that easily with the loss of his parents. Naruto had to be something special.

"You're too cute." She exclaimed and ruffled his hair lovingly.

"Wah?! Hey!" He shook his head and tried to slap her hand off.

The blonde girl giggled and withdrew her hand, leaving a faint blush on Naruto's cheeks. A sideglance told her that the darkhaired boys were biting their lips hard to escape new bumps on their heads. The girl grinned at that.

"So, let's get back to the topic at hand." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the boys questioningly. "How do you know that much about the school? I searched the web, but found almost nothing. There wasn't even a school homepage."

"There are some people who know about brochures, you know?" Shikamaru teased her. "But, hey, not you, I guess."

Ino shot him a glare, but he shrugged it off and continued.

"I know about it from my father, he knows one of the teachers there from his time in school." He sighed. "Embarrassing."

"Tch." Ino and Sasuke said simultaneously.

"Well, my informations are from my brother. He graduated Konoha Institution last year. He was like the best in school." He grunted. "I bet the teachers will compare me to him all the time. Embarrassing." He echoed Shikamaru.

Ino sighed. They wouldn't keep that up forever, would they? Well... the question was, if she would even see them forever. They knew pretty much about the school, so would they be attending the P.E. class?! Her head shot up at this thought.

"Shikamaru! Sasuke!" She yelled at once and they jumped.

"What, girl?!" Sasuke snarled next to her, taken aback by her sudden shout.

"Did you apply for P.E. class?!" Now Naruto's head jerked around as well, eyeing his friends closely.

"You didn't, did you? You wouldn't have applied without telling me, would you?"

Sasuke and Shikamaru looked a little uncomfortable at this.

"Well, my parents applied, but I guess I only got in, because my brother spoke up for me last year." Sasuke shrugged.

The faces of the blondes turned towards the other boy.

"Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I don't know. My parents asked me, but I said I didn't care." He shrugged, too. Were those two kind of similiar, or was it just Ino's imagination?

"But we'll know tonight, won't we?" Shikamaru smoothly changed the point of attention of the two slightly sad blondes.

"Tonight?" Naruto asked and blinked.

"Yes, tonight, even I know that, Naruto!" Ino looked at the boy across from her. "The new students arrive the friday before school starts to get the chance to get used to their new surroundings. That evening before dinner, they assemble and get sorted into their classes."

"Like in Harry Potter?" Naruto asked grinning.

"Wha- Like- What?! Are you stupid?" Ino spluttered.

Shikamaru and Sasuke couldn't hold onto themselves this time, they burst out laughing, loudly.

"Oh Naruto!" Sasuke gasped. "That was embarrassing! First, you ask a thing that EVEN INO KNEW and secondly you bring your nerddom into this?!"

"What's that supposed to mean, _even Ino_, you moron?!" Ino slapped the Uchiha. "Don't be so mean!"

"What? I'm not mean! I'm just teasing you in advance, because we won't see each other much, starting monday!" Sasuke said.

"Teasing in advance, yeah, right." Then she snapped her head around. "And you better MAKE TIME to come see me!"

Sasuke chuckled. "Sure, whatever you say."


	2. Chapter 2

Time seemed to pass in a flash and soon, they had to exit the bus.

They pulled their trunks and they dragged them outside. Ino set foot onto the grass and looked around. There was a bus stop and... nothing. Just green grass all around the street and the bus stop.

"Err... Well, where to go now?" She asked. Then, she saw two figures standing at the bus stop a few feet away, a girl about her age and a boy, only a little older.

"Hey!" The blonde greeted as she stepped up to them. The girl had long dark hair and light eyes, she jumped as Ino adressed her. The boy just watched her.

"May I ask a question?" Ino smiled at them.

"Didn't you already?" The boy said and eyed her arrogantly.

"Well... Yes. Anyways, do you know how we get to that boarding school around here? The Kloha... Koloha..."

The boy with long brown hair and as light eyes as the girl scoffed. They had to be related.

"Konoha Institution?" She asked kindly.

"Yes." Ino said thankfully and smiled at the girl. "So could you help us?"

"Us?" The boy frowned.

"Yes, _us_." Ino said, raising an eyebrow. Wasn't it obvious? "Those three morons back there."

The boy looked behind her for a second, then continued to look at her.

"I don't see anything." He turned to his relative. "Do you, Hinata?"

"W-Well, n-n-no." She answered.

Ino frowned and turned around herself.

She saw nothing. Just grass and the street.

The blonde growled.

"Excuse me for _just a second._"

Ino stormed to the edge of the bus shelter and turned left. There they stood. Her three morons.

"Are you stupid!?" She yelled at them first thing when she set eyes on them. "Why did you just leave me alone?!"

"You're embarrassing!" All three of them told her flatout.

Ino was flabbergasted. Why did she even ask?

"Well, then I'll just get back on my-" She jumped when she turned around and almost collided with a chest. She squeaked and jumped back a foot, colliding with Shikamaru's chest. The light-eyed boy and the girl already stood behind her.

"Geez! What's the matter with you! Scaring me like that!" She put a hand on her heart. "And you shut up!" She glared at the morons that were laughing their butts off.

"We j-just wanted to know who you're talking to." Hinata answered her.

"Sorry, if we startled you, Sweetie." The boy arrogantly grinned down at her.

"Well, if you're calling me that, you can just tell me your name, _Sweetie._" She answered dryly.

"Hyuuga Neji." He slightly grinned down at her. "And you are?"

" _I _am none of your business." Ino answered and turned to Hinata, while Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru laughed and cheered her on.

"So, I'm Yamanaka Ino, nice to meet you. You're Hinata, right?" She smiled lightly and stuck her hand out to the apparently shy girl.

Hinata shot her relative a quick look, then answered her.

"H-Hyuuga Hinata."

"Sweet! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself immediately, stepping up behind Ino and - half leaning over her shoulder - stuck his hand out to the new girl.

"She's my _cousin_." Neji growled warningly, which went unnoticed by Naruto.

Ino chuckled then went on to introducing Sasuke and Shikamaru - to Hinata of course, never to Neji, he was just terribly unfriendly.

"N-Nice to m-meet you." She stammered and did a tiny bow.

"Nice to meet you, too!" Ino and Naruto chirped simultaneously. When they realized their behaviour they laughed.

"Man, we're awesome!" They highfived.

"You're embarrassing." Shikamaru and Sasuke mumbled from behind them.

Neji scoffed at their behavior, but couldn't hide his grin. Hinata giggled slightly.

"So, how _do_ we get to the school?" Ino asked the Hyuugas.

"There's a bus coming to pick us up." Neji answered her.

"Oh no! We excited the bus some time ago!" Naruto whined.

"Are you stupid, moron? Another bus is most likely to show up, isn't it? Hinata and Neji wouldn't be still standing around, right?" Sasuke sighed.

"You know that, because...?" Ino asked Neji.

"I'm a second year high school student at Konoha Institution."

"Oh."

"So, great, whatever. But HOW do you think the bus is supposed to see us, when we're standing _behind_ the shelter?" Naruto asked, an arrogant grin on his features.

"Damn, he's actually right." Sasuke sighed.

They hurried around, to the front of the shelter only to see, that they weren't alone anymore. There were a boy with a red rectangle on each cheek, a girl and a rather large dog.

Ino and Naruto approached them at a run, which made the dog bark and the boy and the girl take a step back.

"Hey!" The blondes greeted cheerfully.

"Are you here, waiting for that bus?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up, Naruto." Ino said, then she turned to the boy and the girl. "Are you on your way to the boarding school, too? You, well, you look like it." She smiled and looked down at their heavy baggage.

The boy eyed them, frowning a little, then he exchanged a look with the amused girl, before turning to Ino and Naruto again, behind whom a group of other people had gathered.

"Yeah, we are. I'm Inuzuka Kiba. An that's my dog, Akamaru." He pointed to the large dirty-white dog. "And you're mad, aren't you?"

Ino and Naruto's mouths plopped open for a moment, causing the boy to laugh.

"I'm not mad!" They exclaimed at once.

"He is!" Ino yelled.

"She is!" Naruto yelled.

They turned their heads towards each other.

"I'm not mad! You are!" They yelled at the other, earning them a sharp knock on the head from Sasuke behind them.

"Shut up, you idiots." He said.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru said, while Sasuke got himself in a fight with the two blondes. "The blond dude, is Uzumaki Naruto, he IS mad and the girl is Yamanaka Ino. The blackhaired boy currently trying to shut them up is Uchiha Sasuke. Next to that you have Hyuuga Neji and his cousin Hyuuga Hinata."

"And I'm Tenten." The girl next to the dog-boy said, giggling at the scene before her.

"Are those two twins or something?" Kiba asked, still eyeing the bickering blondes.

"No, surprisingly they aren't." Shikamaru said and sighed. "They know each other for only a few hours but they're a horrible duo already."

The dog barked and Ino's attention was on it immediately.

"Awww! You're a cute one!" She cooed. "May I touch him?"

Kiba shrugged. "Sure, if he lets you."

Ino started to walk over to him and kneeled down a few inches in front of him. Kiba eyed his dog closely.

"Hey. You're Akamaru, right? I'm Ino. Nice to meet you." She smiled at him and stuck out her hand, as if she intended on shaking his paw. Akamaru looked at her hand, then at her face, sniffed the air once and then lunged forward to lick the blonde's face.

"Woah!" She laughed and stroked the dogs soft fur. "You're a sweet one, huh?"

"Well that's unusual." Kiba seemed to be surprised.

"What is?" Ino asked from the floor.

"He doesn't like many people. That's highly unusual for him."

"So that means I'm special?" Ino smiled.

"No, that's because you think like a dog." Sasuke said from behind her.

"Uchiha! Shut up! I'll get you for this!" She bellowed and jumped to her feet. Akamaru barked loudly and followed his new friend on the charge towards the blackhaired boy.

"Ino! No! No! Don't! Get that dog off me! I'm a cat-person!" Sasuke yelled and actually RAN.

"Well this is highly unusual for Sasuke. He never acts like this." Naruto said thoughtfully. "He really must be a cat-person."

Shikamaru sighed and put his head in his palm. This day was only half way over and he was already exhausted.

"Kiba, are those tattoos on your face?" Naruto asked like nothing had ever happened.

"Yes." He grinned proudly. "They're quite new. I only got them last month."

"They look like fangs." Ino panted from behind them. She had abandoned her hunt for Sasuke for the moment.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Kiba exclaimed and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You're the first one who realized what they are supposed to be! Everyone else says they look like stupid rectangles."

"I think it's fairly easy to see that those are fangs and not stupid rectangles." Ino said.

"Yeah, like I said, that's because you think like a dog." Sasuke could be heard and Ino took off in a flash.

Naruto laughed. "You're so weird!"

"So, you're all here to get to Konoha Institution, too, right?" Tenten asked. "How long do we still have to wait here? I'd really like to get there... We've been on the road for hours..."

"Yeah, so how do we get away from here, Uchiha?" Shikamaru yelled at the boy that was now holding onto Ino's wrists to keep her from hitting him.

"BUS!" He yelled back.

"Told you so." Neji said.

"Maaaan! I was hoping he'd say something else!" Naruto whined. "I'm getting hungry!"

Kiba's head suddenly shot up.  
>"Kiba?" Shikamaru asked.<p>

"Something's coming."

Ino stopped struggling, but Sasuke didn't release her wrists, he grabbed them harder.

"What?"

"There's a sound... an engine."

"Well what else would it be around here?" Neji said.

"Maybe it's the bus!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"Finally! We've been here for AGES." Tenten sighed.

"Ages? We're here for almost an HOUR!" Naruto said.

"Ha, we've been here even _before you._" Neji scoffed.

"Great, so you... you..."

"Were you afraid you'd be too late?" Sasuke came to Naruto's aid. He had released Ino's writsts as they approached the group again.

"No, we're just on time. You seem to have missed your ride!" said Neji venomously.

"No, we didn't!" Ino backed her friends up against the arrogant boy, glaring at him. "We-"

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!"

Their heads turned, searching for the source of the noise. There were only Shikamaru and Hinata standing next to each other about two feet away from the bickering crowd. They didn't... did they?

"You're troublesome." Shikamaru sighed eventually. Ino and the others were still stunned into silence by their outbreak.

"And you're making Kiba go nuts." He added.

Heads turned again towards the boy and the dog cowering on the floor next to Tenten. Of course! His hearing seemed to be rather good, so their yelling must have burst his eardrums.

_That's not possible, idiot. _A voice that sounded awfully like Sasuke's said in Ino's head. She frowned and punched the Uchiha, just for good measure.

Tenten stroked Kiba's back and Akamaru's head soothingly.

"Hey Kiba!" Ino adressed him in a calm voice. "We're sorry."

The boys to her sides nodded.

"Sorry, dude!"

"We didn't mean to!"

Slowly Kiba raised a shaky hand and waved them off. Ino smiled. They were forgiven. But -

"Neji, don't you have to say something?" She elbowed him.

The Hyuuga growled down at her.

"Sorry, dogboy."

Well, that wasn't very nice, but better than nothing, was it?

Kiba nodded again and slowly stood up again, still clutching his ears sligltly.

"Can you still hear the bus?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Yes, but faintly."

"How come we still can't hear it? If you could hear it, we should've been able to shortly after." He continued.

"Oh no, it should take about another hour." Kiba said.

Shikamaru's and every other head flew around to him, except for Tenten.

"A-A-An HOUR?!"

"Yeah, Kiba's hearing is extraordinaryly good." Tenten answered their confused faces.

"That's- That's not humanly possible." Sasuke said, absolutely flabbergasted.

"Well, it's been certified by a specialist." Tenten shrugged and Kiba scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.

"Geez. You're really something." The Uchiha said and dropped his arm on Ino's right shoulder to support himself.

A stunned silence took over them for a few moments until Tenten spoke up.

"Okay, so I'd say we could sit down and eat until that bus is here?"

"YOU GOT FOOD?!" Naruto bellowed and got smacked over the head not one, not two, but three times.

"OUCH! Sorry! _So you got fooooood_?" He whisper-yelled stupidly.

"Yes, we do, Naruto." Tenten said.

"We do, too, dumbass. Don't tell me you didn't bring any?" Sasuke looked over Ino's head at his best friend.

"Er... well... How was I supposed to know that this damn journey would take us so long?!" The blond tried to defend himself.

Ino sighed. Morons.

"I-I-I got a blanket. We c-c-could sit on the grass." Hinata spoke up.

"A picknick!" Ino smiled. "Great idea, Hinata! Come on, let's go!"

She jumped out from under Sasuke's arm which fell limbly to his side, grabbed Hinata's hand and dragged her off around the corner of the shelter.

Everyone sat down and unpacked their food. The girls sat together and chatted happily. Shikamaru lay a few feet away on the downside of the small hill and seemed to doze off, Sasuke bickered with Naruto and Kiba, while Neji just hovered beneath Hinata like her shadow.

"So how old are you guys? You don't need to answer, Neji." Ino told him.

"I didn't intend to."

Hinata chuckled. "I'm sixteen. I'm starting first year of high school at Konoha Institution."

"So am I." Grinned Tenten.

"Oh great." Ino sighed.

"What is it?"

"I'm only 15. I knew this would happen. I'm the baby." She sighed again. "Just don't tell-"

"What did I just hear?!"

"Oh no."

The blonde girl turned her head around to face Naruto and Sasuke, both equally annoying smirks on their faces.

"You're only fifteen? So you're the youngest here!" Naruto grinned.

"Oh, baby Ino, we'll watch out for you, don't worry." Sasuke's face might've split in two if his grin grew even wider.

"Yeah, you don't need to be scared of mean guys, we'll protect you."

"I hate you two so, so much." Ino growled at them.

"Did any of you apply for that P.E. class?" Tenten quickly changed the topic.

"I-I did... well, my parents applied for me." Hinata said. She didn't look too happy. "My cousin's in there, too, so I got in immediately."

"Oh thank god! I thought I was the only one!" Tenten exclaimed happily.

"You applied, too?" Hinata looked relieved.

"Yes!"

They smiled at each other happily.

"Ino, did you apply, too?"

"Oh, I don't think I did." She laughed uncomfortably. "I didn't know about this class until today."

"Oh... well... Maybe your parents applied for you?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know, I don't think so. But I'll see that tonight, right?"

"Yeah." Tenten said.

"Sasuke and Shikamaru are in, too." Naruto frowned. "I really want to get in, too!"

They all started chatting excitedly and Ino sighed. She really wanted to stay with these guys! Well, minus the Hyuuga-fridge, maybe.

Not wanting to drag the others down with her sulking, she picked up her sandwich, got up and walked over to the sleeping boy a few feet away from were they sat.

She sat down next to the silent figure and poked his stomach.

"Wake up sleepyhead, I brought you half a sandwich." She broke off half of her food and held it in front of him.

"Don't want it." He muttered.

"Yes. You do." She insisted.

Sighing deeply he sat up and took her offer.

"Good boy. You already get adjusted to my ordering." She grinned.

Shikamaru scoffed and bit into her sandwich.

"Tomatoes?" He asked.

"Yes. So?"

"Did Sasuke see this?"

"See what?"

"Your tomato-sandwich."

"I don't know. He could have."

Shikamaru chuckled and looked up the hill to their friends. "He might die of jealousy right now."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"He LOVES tomatoes."

"You're kidding me."

"No, I don't. He'd actually beat you up if you snatched his tomatoes from him - if you're a guy, that is. Ask Naruto."

Ino giggled. And turned around to look at the others as well. She saw Sasuke's head snap back around quickly.

"You're seriously not kidding!" She exclaimed laughing.

"Told you I didn't." Shikamaru said after swallowing his last bite of sandwich.

Ino's eyes moved from figure to figure. How did she always manage to meet such weird people? A tomato-crazy person, a guy with way too much energy, a dogboy, a fridge and a lazy sloth. Oh my. At least the girls were somewhat normal.

"I'm tired." She sighed as she turned around again.

"Hm." Shikamaru answered. He had already layed back down, hands behind his head.

Ino could hear footsteps behind her and turned around to see Sasuke approaching them.

"Don't hit me!" She exclaimed, her arms hovering over her head in defence. "Those were MY tomatoes!"

"Tch." Sasuke said and flopped down on her other side. "Idiot, I know that."

Ino looked at him in shock for a second. Then he mumbled:

"Doesn't mean I'm not still a little jealous..."

The blonde grinned. "Sure. How much time until the bus arrives?"

"Half an hour?" Sasuke guessed and settled himself down on his back. "Just enough time for a short nap."

And with that he just closed his eyes. Ino sat there and looked at him like he was crazy. Then she turned to her other side. Shikamaru had closed his eyes as well. She turned her head from side to side.

"Are you kidding me? You're both just going to sleep?"

No answer.

"Oh whatever." She sighed and flopped back, making herself comfortable between them.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ino!" A voice made her wake with a start. It was Naruto.

"Yeah?" She rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly.

"The bus is about to arrive, Kiba said to wake you up." He grinned.

"Ah, thanks." She yawned. She actually fell asleep! She had been up since 5 AM and the warm sun had just lulled her in almost at once.

Sasuke still lay next to her, eyes open, but not moving, Shikamaru on the other hand was propped up on his elbows, looking down on the street.

"Morning." She mumbled quietly.

"Hn." Sasuke said. Shikamaru yawned.

"Yeah, right." She said and stumbled to her feet.

"Ten minutes to pack up and get down there, guys!" Kiba yelled over the hill.

The blonde hurried over to accompany Tenten and Hinata while they were cleaning up with the others.

Only a few minutes later they all stood in front of the bus shelter again and watched dark clouds approach from the east. A rather harsh wind picked up and whipped Ino's, Hinata's and Neji's hair around their heads. Ino clutched at her skirt, desparately trying to keep it from flying up. She started to shiver and snuggled herself in between her napping companions for some warmth and shelter from the wind. Of course she _could_ just step into the bus shelter, but the bus was about to arrive and she didn't want to move away from her warm friends.

Suddenly, Sasuke's head jerked up and whipped around. A second later, Ino could hear it, too. An engine!

Oh please, let it be ours, oh please, let it be ours!

She repeated over and over again in her head. But what turned around the corner was almost too cliché to be true. A sunflower yellow american chick-flick-school bus drove up and stopped in front of them.

The blondes as well as Kiba and Tenten were rather flabbergasted, Shikamaru and Sasuke didn't move a muscle, Hinata looked a little insecure. Only Neji waved at the man inside.

The doors opened and a man stepped out.

He had silver hair and wore a mask over half his face. Ino looked at him closer. He was thin, not sickly, but in shape and rather young.

"Hey. I'm Hatake Kakashi, one of your teachers. I'm here to pick you up. Hello, Neji." He said and smiled at them - at least his one visible eye suggested that he did.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei. You're late." The Hyuuga said.

"Oh well, you know me, there were those many elderly people, I just _had_ to help them cross the street."

"Yeah, yeah." Neji waved his excuses away casually and walked to the back of the bus. "Can we get going, now?"

"Sure." The bus driver said. "Follow along, kids."

They stored their trunks and clambered quickly inside, because it was starting to rain.

Ino shook the few raindrops out of her hair as she stepped inside and shivered. Now, where to sit? Naruto waved at her from the middle of the bus and grinned broadly.

"You waiting for me?" She asked and flopped down next to him.

"Yes." He grinned.

"How come? You're not sitting with Sasuke? Aren't you guys best friends or something?"

"Sure we are. But Sasuke's rather a sleepyhead on bus rides and that's boring. He used up all his bus-energy this morning, he said. So I thought why not sit to the baby girl - OUCH!"

Ino had thrown a punch at him as soon as the word 'baby' had left his lips.

"Well, great thing, that I wanted to doze off, too." Ino said casually and watched Naruto's features drop from the corner of her eye.

She giggled. "Sorry, mate."

"You're not serious, right? You won't just go to sleep?"

But he didn't get an answer, because the silverhaired man stepped back into the vehicle and the speakers cracked.

"So, kids, as I said I'm Hatake Kakashi and I'm going to take you to school. This'll be a rather long drive. About two hours long-" he was interrupted by several groans. "-and then we'll arrive at the school grounds. Tonight, all new students are going to assemble and you will be separated into your classes and led towards your houses."

"It really _does_ sound like Harry Potter." Naruto mumbled next to Ino and she giggled.

"So... keep quiet and don't disturb me." Kakashi finished and started the engine again.

Ino and Naruto exchanged a look. "He's kind of weird, isn't he?"

"Yeah..."

"So, what do you want to do?"

"What?" Naruto looked at her stupidly.

"I said, what do you want to do? You didn't want me to sleep."

"Really?! You mean that?" Naruto smiled at her brightly.

"Of course I do, what do you think?!" She laughed at him.

"Okay... er, well... er..." Naruto stumbled, clearly at a loss for what to do that didn't disturb Hatake Kakashi. "You... could tell me something about you?"

Ino scoffed. "What's this? A first date? And I told you all there is to know about me this morning."

"Ah, yeah..."

"Another great idea?"

"No..."

Ino grinned. "Then, I'm going to sleep."

The blonde put her back to Naruto's side and snuggled up to him.

"Aww, man, really?" Naruto frowned.

"Yes. Sorry." She grinned.

She could feel the boy sigh beneath her and grinned even wider.

"Alright, alright." Naruto said, he let an arm plop over Ino's stomach and leaned his head against the cool window.

"What's that supposed to be?" Ino asked suspicously.

"Nothing." The blonde shrugged. "You're just uncomfortable."

"Why, thank you. That's so sweet of you." She responded sarcastically and felt him chuckle.

"You're stupid." Naruto mumbled.  
>"Nah, you are." She responded smiling, already dozing off.<p>

"You're both stupid." Sasuke's and Shikamaru's voices said from behind them.

The blondes chuckled faintly.

Almost two hours later the bus stopped.

The bus driver got out and disappeared for quite a time. He didn't bother to tell anyone where he was going - all of his companions were asleep, so who was there to tell?

He reappeared in the bus and soon after the loudspeakers cracked to life.

"Wake up."

Nothing. Not even one of them stirred. The man sighed.

"Wake. Up." He said louder. Now some were stirring.

"Kids, wake up now, we have arrived!"

Now they were all blinking at him sleepily.

"We're there?" The blond boy asked.

"Yes. Now get up and follow me."

Moaning the youths got up and slowly walked after him.

Outside, Ino noticed their trunks had already been removed from their place.

"Where are-" she started but was cut off immediately.

"They've been taken to your dorms." Kakashi answered her.

"Okay." She looked at him quizzically, before exchanging a glance with Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"We'll have some walking to do, they'd just hinder you." The silver haired man continued.

"_How_ much walking exactely?" Tenten asked. She had a hunch that Kakashi's answer wouldn't make any of them happy.

"A bit." Kakashi said and walked off towards sandy colored rocks that grew into mountains further back, Neji following close behind.

The newbies exchanged anxious glances, then sighed and followed their teacher and upperclassman.

The group walked for several minutes straight on ahead, then took a left turn, a right turn, a few hundred metres straight and then a few turns again. They had woven their way into the mountains and after what felt like forever Kakashi stopped in front of a wall. He turned around to them and looked at them for a long moment.

"You won't know much about this school, if you haven't got friends or relatives inside it. We want it to stay this way. There's a reason that this school is hidden in the mountains and there's nothing on the internet or the newspapers about it. It's one of the best schools for special trainings and its envied for that. So keep it quiet. From how to get there up to how we teach you."

The teenagers looked at him with wide eyes.

"What's that? Is that some kind of secret community?" Naruto scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Will you not let us in or out if we don't swear an oath to protect the secrets of the school?" Kiba joined him.

"No, you don't but once you have attended the school for a few weeks, you won't think about telling anyone anymore." Kakashi said calmly.

"Is that a thread?" Tenten asked in a dangerously quiet voice and Akamaru growled behind her.

"No. It's the truth." The silverhaired man said. "Ask Neji."

All eyes turned tolook at him. The Hyuuga stared back at them for a moment with his white eyes. Then he shrugged. "It's true."

"No oath?" Kiba asked.

"No thread?" Tenten frowned suspiciously at him.

"No. Nothing."

"What else is there?" Sasuke spoke up from behind Ino.

"Nothing." Neji repeated.

"Then how come you won't tell anything?" Ino asked the older boy.

"Well, you just... _understand_. That's all." He shrugged again.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Tenten and Kiba barked from the last row.

Neji turned to Kakashi, pleading him for help.

"You'll see once you're there. Believe me. There's nothing to be afraid of." Kakashi answered. "Now follow me."

He turned towards the wall of stone behind him and raised a hand to touch several spots on the granit. For a moment nothing happened and Naruto was about to make a comment, when suddenly, the wall got a crack. It crawled all over the wall and eventually split it in two.

The wall opened up slowly and revealed a dark tunnel within the mountain.

Stunned silence engulfed the teenagers.

Kakashi and Neji walked on into the darkness.

"A secret door in the mountains." Ino muttered. "You gotta be kidding me."

Naruto shot her a meaningful look from beside her. Ino restrained herself from face-palming.

They followed their teacher and just when the walls closed behind them, lights on the walls were switched on.

They walked, steadily upwards, before - after what felt like another eternity - they reached the other end of the tunnel.

Glad to breathe fresh air again, the group stepped into the light of the day - only to see that it was almost gone. The sky was grey and rain was still drizzling down.

Sasuke sighed. Could this get any worse somehow?

Yes, it could. They were not only greeted by rain and almost-darkness, but also by a cliff just ahead of them that lead down into a huge canyon, while the sandy mountaintops were still hovering over them. Kakashi turned to his left and walked at the edge of the cliff.

"This way, follow me. Be careful, don't fall down." He said over his shoulder.

Gulping, the new students stepped after their teacher, a few steps too far to the right and they'd fall down. Deep down.

When they walked around a corner, they suddenly stopped.

"What?" Ino asked. "Tenten, why did you stop?"

Tenten didn't move an inch.

"Tenten!" Ino shook her slightly.

"Ino. Look." Sasuke said from behind her and pointed over her and Tenten's shoulder at something in the distance.

Ino followed his outstretched hand and saw a building on a higher plateau, straight across the cliff. It looked gigantic. Ino's jaw dropped at the sight of the perly white building.

"Wow." She breathed.

"That's Konoha Institution." Kakashi said from the front of the line.

They had to walk all around a rather large part of the canyon just to get near the school.

When they eventually reached the end of their track, they stopped once again in front of a large, high staircase.

"Those are the last few steps, I promise." Kakashi said. "Be careful, if you fall... well, don't."

And with that he walked off again.

"H-H-He doesn't mean that, does he?" Hinata stuttered. She was clearly afraid.

"He does." Neji stated and urged Hinata to climb the stairs in front of him. "Come on."

The others sighed.

"I already hate to walk all this way back at the end of the year." Ino growled, then she got pushed by Shikamaru to climb the stairs in front of him, after Kiba and Akamaru. He wanted to make sure that the nagging blonde wouldn't fall down into the canyon. She was likely to do so.

And as if he was able to foresee things, Ino slipped halfway up the stairs and almost fell. But Kiba and Shikamaru were quick enough to catch her before she even touched the ground.

"T-T-Thanks." She stumbled.  
>Shikamaru nodded and Kiba scoffed.<p>

"You sound like Hinata. Turn back to normal, will you? That's not like you." He grinned down at her from several steps above her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll remember." She said and playfully shoved him to turn around.

When they stepped onto the plateau, Sasuke and Naruto were already waiting for them.

"Damn, Ino, can't you even climb stairs on your own?" Sasuke asked playfully, but Ino could clearly see, that there was a little concern in his eyes.

"One foot in front of the other, girl." Naruto chuckled at her.

"Ahh, shut up you two." She waved them off and walked over to stand with Tenten, Kiba and Akamaru.

"Is everyone there?" Kakashi asked them and seemed to count them. "Yes. Well, then let's go. I'll take you to the school's secretary, she'll check you off the student's list and tell you everything you need to know for now."

They walked again. Ino asked herself, if they would ever stop walking.

The group stepped up to the Konoha Institution's campus, a large gate opened to let them enter. Ino gaped at her surroundings. Not only was there a _real village_ awaiting her inside, but it was surrounded by a giant perly white wall. This wasn't a campus, it was a _freaking fortress_. It took them longer than they would've guessed to walk through the sandy colored streets, passing white building after white building on their way. Then Ino saw the large building they were apparently approaching. It wasn't plain white, it had a mosaik-pattern on it, it was extremely pretty, she thought.

The group entered into a large entrance hall. It was classy, the floor was dark wood, the walls were lime green. A little lounge-area was set up in a corner with modern white armchairs and a couch.

Only when they didn't stop there but walked further on, Ino noticed the large reception at the back, opposite the entrance. A woman with dark short hair was sitting behind it, typing away on her computer. She looked up when they had made it halfway across the room and stood up, while the blonde girl heard her printer jump into action.

"Kakashi." She smiled warmly at the man. "Welcome back. I didn't expect you this early."

_Early?!_ Kiba mouthed. Ino caught his gaze and chuckled.

"Thanks, Shizune. I'll leave them with you now, shall I?" Kakashi ignored her statement.

"Yes, you may go. Tsunade awaits you once you're back, though."

"All right." He turned towards his group of teenagers, his hands in his pockets. "Well, see ya."

And with that he walked of. The group watched him go and then turned back towards the secretary.

"Welcome. My name's Shizune. I'm the school's secretary and I'll tell you everything you need to know. But first, let me check who you are." She took the freshly printed list of students and started to call their names out to tick them off.

Once finished, she looked up at them again with a smile.

"Great. So, the assembly isn't due for another hour and I guess, you're a little exhausted. There's a lounge reserved per bus, where you can rest a little and refresh. If you would follow me, please."

They strolled after her and were left in a white room with red leather couches and armchairs.

"I'll come and get you when it's time." Shizune smiled and closed the door after them.

Naruto and Sasuke immediately walked towards one of the couches each and flopped down on them, obviously exhausted.

"How is it possible, that I've slept almost three hours during the day and I'm still this tired?" Ino complained and sank down next to where Sasuke lay outstretched, he only grudgingly made room for her.

"I don't know, but it's the same with me." Shikamaru sighed and sat down in the chair next to her and stretched his legs out.

The others followed him and plopped down with a sigh here and there.

"Wait!" Naruto suddenly yelled and sat up on his couch.

"What?!" All eyes were on him now.

"She said it was an _hour_ until we get out of here?!" He asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, so?" Tenten asked him, one of her eyebrows raised.

"That means it's _at least_ one and a half hours until we get something to eat!" He sounded desperate now.

There was a short silence, before Hinata started to giggle and after another second Ino and Tenten, as well as the boys joined her laughter. Even Neji could be seen chuckling a little.

Akamaru looked at them all, as if they were stupid. Why was everybody laughing? He didn't get it. He could understand the blond's desperation very well! He was starving, too! Sighing, he lay his head on Hinata's knee. He would never get the hang of humans. Hinata started to stroke his head softly and he snuggled deeper into her warm leg.

"He likes you."

Hinata's head shot up. She had gotten lost in the dog's soft fur and her own thoughts for a moment.

"W-What?"

"He likes you. Akamaru." Tenten repeated.

"Yeah, he does." Kiba nodded. "I don't get it, what's with you girls, that he likes you at once?"

"Is that bad?" Ino asked from her place opposite them.

"No, I just-" Kiba shrugged and chuckled. "I just don't get it. Even for Tenten he needed about a year to completely trust her. It's weird that he's hanging onto you at once."

"Yeah, Akamaru, what am I supposed to think of that?" Tenten ruffled his furry head. "You don't like me as much as you like Ino and Hinata? Well, thank you very much."

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back.

It worked. Akamaru immediately retreated from Hinata and looked at Tenten with his big brown eyes. He scooted over to her and nuzzled his head into her lap. Tenten just looked at him, but didn't react otherwise. A moment after that he started whining and nudging her arm with his nose.

She ignored him for another moment, then Tenten broke into a laugh and cuddled Akamaru who let out a glad bark.

"Yeah yeah, dummy, I love you, too." She laughed.

"So, you two knew each other before today?" Shikamaru asked Kiba and Tenten suddenly.

"Oh yeah." Kiba grinned. "We went to Middle School together."

"We were in the same martial arts club, that's how we met." Tenten added.

"Yeah, I still don't believe that was a coincidence." Kiba grinned at his friend next to him. "Come on, you were _totally_ crushing on me! That's why you joined my club!"

"Ha!" Tenten let out a laugh. "Crushing on you? Keep dreaming, Romeo."

The others were grinning at the two, obviously amused.

"Well," Kiba turned back to his listeners. "Now we're best friends, because Miss In-Denial here is too afraid to tell me she _looooves_ me." He grinned and shot Tenten a mocking glance from the corner of his eye.

"You're right." Tenten suddenly said and Kiba's grin disappeared at once to be replaced by a shocked expression.

"What?!"  
>"You're right." Tenten shrugged. Then she stood up from the couch and knelt down in front of Kiba who furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously.<p>

"Kiba." Tenten took a deep breath and looked up into his eyes. "Will you honor me..."

Everyone held their breaths. Was she serious? Was this a proposal from one best friend to another? Would they start of their High School life with a new couple?

"Will you honor me... and become my _wife_?" She asked and broke out into a grin at the last word.

It took Kiba only a split-second to break into a laugh and fall into his roll.

He brought a hand to his lips and let it shake dramatically. His lower lip quivered and even his eyes were tearing up!

"Oh Tenten!" He said in a girly voice. "Yes! Yes! A thouuuusand times yes!" He squealed and pummeled her down to the floor in an attempt to hug her.

Their companions roared with laughter at their show - even Neji had a hand over his face and was shaking visibly.

The actors stood up and bowed to their audience which applauded loudly, still laughing maniacally.

"You two are absolutely crazy!" Naruto cried, tears running down his cheeks.

"Yeah!" Ino gasped. "And I thought only Naruto and I could be that weird!"

She wiped her tears away and looked over at her male pendant. They shared an evil grin, then both grabbed a cushion and threw it at Sasuke. The surprised Uchiha was still recovering from his laughing fit and was hit directly in the face.

"TOUCHDOWN!" The blondes yelled and got up to high five.

"Argh!" Sasuke shot up from his sitting position. "You two are absolutely crazy!"

PLOFF!

Again, Sasuke received two cushions to the face. Confused he searched for the source of the flying objects. Naruto and Ino were almost collapsing with laughter in front of the couch opposite him-

"Hey! _We're _absolutely crazy!" It sounded from his right. "We don't like sharing our title!"

Tenten and Kiba grinned at him widely and when the blondes went over to high five with the brunettes - that was the last straw.

"ARRRGH!" Sasuke yelled and threw all the cushions at them at once but failed miserably.

Hinata, Shikamaru and Neji were laughing hysterically now. The look on Sasuke's face had been priceless! And his reaction! Oh dear!

Pouting, Sasuke leaned back into the couch and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh Sasuke," Ino said. "Don't be such an angry-pants. It was just a joke!"

Sasuke glared at her and mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't quite make out.

The grumbling Sasuke recovered only when Naruto and Ino sat on either side of him, Naruto throwing an arm around his shoulders and talking about tomatoes and Ino laced her arms around his right arm and snuggled into it lovingly.

Shikamaru watched them with a grin. Those three were already this close after just one day. How was that possible? But it wasn't only them. Their whole group - well, except for Neji maybe, but he seemed to warm up, too - seemed to get along quite well, considering that they had known each other for only a mere few hours. It was weird.

They had chatted for some time, enjoying the cool drinks that were offered in this room and eventually, the door opened again. Shizune stood there.

"I hope you are rested as well as possible and will follow me now. The other groups have arrived and the assembly will begin in a few minutes." She said and started walking. "There are about one hundred new students this year, from elementary schoolers up to first year High School students. The headmistress will welcome you and then sort you into your classes and houses."

"Houses? I knew it's like Harry Potter!" Naruto whispered to Sasuke and Ino who were walking next to him. Ino giggled.

"The fridges of your houses are stocked," Shizune continued. "You'll find your dinner in there as well, you'll just have to reheat it."

"Why do we get food to reheat in our fridges?" Tenten asked. "Wouldn't it be wiser to just... let the students cook themselves or let them eat in the cafeteria?"

"We don't have a cefeteria." Shizune answered her while she walked around the fifth corner so far. "There's a break where you can have your lunch, high school students are free to decide if they want to take it outside, or at your houses or in your classrooms if you prefer. Furthermore, we have made the experience that the students are too tired to cook for themselves at their arrival-evenings, so we came up with this little support for them. But the headmistress will fill you in on all of that. Here we are."

She stopped in front of a double winged door and pushed it open. Inside, the lights were dimmed and the muttering of excited students could be heard.

"You should find your seats in the back of the assembly hall. Have a nice evening." Shizune smiled at them and walked off along the corridor until she vanished behind another corner.

The group walked in and true, they found seats at the back of the large theatre.

Ino sat down between Kiba and Naruto, chatting to the latter excitedly about the P.E. class and that he would definitely be accepted if he had applied.

The blonde girl was a little sad. She wouldn't see Sasuke and Shikamaru very often, if they were in the class and she wasn't. She really wanted to be in it, too. She hoped her parents had applied for her, they hadn't asked her or anything, but she just _hoped_ they had. By the looks of it, most of her new friends were already accepted into it and she couldn't stand the idea to be seperated from them, to meet new people and everything. Sure, meeting new people wasn't bad, and she was quite good at making friends, but with this group it just felt.. different. There was this deep base of understanding, of _trust_ that she couldn't explain. She didn't want to lose this...

But she couldn't sulk in her thoughts anymore, because the lights were turned off at that moment and a spotlight on the stage went on.

A blonde woman with impressingly large proportions went on stage and raised a microphone in front of her face.

"Welcome, new students." She said and smiled at the absolutely silent crowd. "My name is Tsunade, I am the headmistress of this boarding school."

Ino furrowed her brows.

"Isn't she a little young to be headmistress?" Kiba mumbled next to her and she nodded.

"The school is high up and I'm glad that all of you are here save and sound." She continued her speech.

Next to Ino, Naruto yawned and snuggled deeper into his seat. She couldn't blame him. Tsunade had started to talk about the history of the school, introduced the teachers, talked about the possibilities that were provided, such as sports activities, clubs and afternoon-activities. Furthermore, she told them that their timetables would be ready and waiting for them on sunday in her assistant's, Shizune's, office alongside with their books.

Eventually, the blonde headmistress got to the interesting part and Ino had to shake Naruto slightly to wake him up.

"I will now start to read out the classes. Please remember which class you're in. After the assembly you'll get a teacher assigned, which will lead your class to their houses." She said. "First class, Elementary School."

And on and on it went for what felt like years. Naruto had almost fallen asleep again - and Ino with him - when Tsunade announced she had finished the Middle Schoolers.

"Now... For the High School students. There's five classes each year and the special P.E. class, which we just call _Athletics_."

A murmur arose in the theatre as she mentioned the P.E. class. When it died down, Tsunade continued.

"I will start with the Athletics. You will follow Hatake Kakashi after this assembly." Kakashi stood up from his chair on the back of the stage and waved.

"The Athletics are... Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji, Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru," - a heavy sigh could be heard from Shikamaru - "Tenten, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino."

"YES!" Naruto and Ino whisper-yelled at once and high fived again. Another slap resounded and Ino and Naruto looked to their right where Sasuke and Shikamaru had just face palmed.

"What?" Naruto asked them.

"The newly found horror-duo remains with us." Sasuke said.

"And I thought I would get some piece and quiet." Shikamaru groaned.

"Shut up, you two!" Ino hissed at them and turned back front.

"... -ga Neji, Rock Lee. House two: Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Tenten and Yamanaka Ino. House three: Inuzuka Kiba, Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade recounted.

"HA! Naruto said and turned to Sasuke and Shikamaru again. "You won't get rid of me so easily!"

Ino giggled. So she would share a house with Tenten and Hinata and another girl. Great! The last girl couldn't be that bad.

Tsunade talked for a little longer, then she closed the assembly and told them to find their teachers in front of the building.

"Hey." Kakashi waved at them in front of the building. It was dark outside by now and they had had some trouble finding him. "Is everyone there? Okay. Let's drop you off then."

And with that he walked off again.

Ino shook her head. He was a really weird man.

"Neji, why are you walking with us anyway? I thought you're in the second year, why are you at the assembly for the newbies?" Tenten asked him.

"I accompanied Hinata. Her father asked me to watch out for her." He stated.

Tenten nodded. "Ah."

They were a group of 12 people, but in the dark Ino didn't really make out much of the new people around her, so she just stuck to walking behind Kiba and not losing sight of his back.

"Here we are." Kakashi said after some time and looked at a list in his hand. "This is house number one. Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuuga, Rock. Neji, you can show your new roommates around, I suppose? Good. Here are your keys. Good night." He said and walked further down the street to the next house in line.

"House number two, the girls' house. Haruno, Hyuuga, Tenten, Yamanaka." He looked up and seemed to think for a moment. "Well, I could show you around... but I don't want to. So, here are your keys. Good night."

He walked off, the boys and girls shooting confused glances forth and back, then the boys hurried after him and vanished in the darkness.

The girls stood there, staring at the spot where the last of the boys had just vanished in the darkness. It was incredible that they had walked only a few metres and were already out of sight.

Tenten shook her head at the bus driver slash teacher and looked at the keys he had thrust into her hand.

"Well, let's get in, shall we?" She said and the others hummed their consent.

Upon entering, the first thing Ino noticed was the smell. It smelled like home. There was the scent of flowers in the air. Lilies, roses and fresh greens. She smiled when Tenten switched the light on and she saw her assumptions confirmed before her. On the little table in the hall was a flower arrangement.

"Well, it's quite nice here, isn't it." Tenten said and started to throw her shoes off.

"Yes." Hinata nodded, but didn't follow her doing.

"I think so, too." A voice said behind them. It belonged to the girl next to Ino.

They had totally forgotten about her new rommate!

"Oh! Hi!" Ino said and grinned at their own stupidity. "I'm Ino."

The girl had pink hair, a little longer than shoulder length, a rather pale skin color and green eyes.

"I'm Sakura. Haruno Sakura." She introduced herself while her cheeks took a light rose color.

"My name's Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata quickly introduced herself and actually bowed.

Tenten giggled at her behavior.

"Yeah, and I'm Tenten."

"Tenten, I was wondering," Ino turned towards her. "Don't you have a last name? Tsunade only called you Tenten, too."

Tenten looked a little uncomfortable at that. "Well... no. I've grown up in an orphanage and since nobody knew my parents last name, they didn't give me one. I get to choose it for myself once I turn eighteen."

She looked in three pairs of large shocked eyes, one pair icy blue, one green and one almost white.

"R-Really?" Hinata asked her carefully, expecting a little she would just laugh out loud and tell them she was joking. But she didn't. Instead, the brunette shrugged.

"Yeah, seriously. I don't know who my parents are. They might not even be alive anymore."

"That's so sad." Sakura said quietly from her place next to the door.

"Oh no, it's okay. I've grown up without them, so I get along pretty well." Then a loving smile appeared on her features. "And I've got Akamaru, Kiba and his parents. They're just like my own parents. I love them _so_ much."

Ino and Hinata smiled at her brightly.

"W-Who's Kiba?" Sakura asked shyly.

"My best friend. He's the boy with the red tattoos on his cheeks. You might've seen him? If not, you'll meet him tomorrow, he's in our class, too." Tenten smiled at her.

Sakura smiled back.

"Okay, enough smalltalk! I'm hungry as hell and I really need a shower and my bed." Ino announced after a moment of silence.

When she eventually lay down in her lilac and white colored room Ino could barely hold her eyes open long enough to check her phone.

She didn't have service, not so surprising up here in the mountains, but there were texts from her parents and one from her cousin, Iroshi. They asked if she was allright and excited and told her to text them once she got to her destination savely.

Ino sighed. She picked herself up from the comfortable bed and went over to her trunk, searched through her things for her laptop and sat at the table with it.

Typing a quick response that she was alright, had met nice people and was accepted into Athletics - and GODDAMN tired.

It wasn't a very nice eMail but what was expected of her at 11 PM when she had gotten up at 5 AM and it was that kind of day?! They'd understand, she was sure of that.

And with a last greeting and 'I love you' she turned back and crashed down onto her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	4. Chapter 4

Chocolate colored eyes slowly fluttered open and shot closed again at once. The girl groaned and rolled onto her side. She had looked right into the sun. Searching for her alarm clock, Tenten stretched her arm and patted around on the little table next to her bed, but couldn't find anything. Confused she opened her eyes and glanced around.  
>White table, white desk lamp, but no sign of her alarm clock. She furrowed her brows and raised her head to look around her room. But it wasn't her room.<p>

For a second a shock ran through her - where was she?!

But then all the memories of the previous day flooded back to her.

"Ah... Right..." She mumbled and got up to check her phone for the time.

9:22 AM. Tenten sighed. It was too early to be wanting to get up, but too late to really go back to sleep again. She could just as well get dressed.

Slipping out of the bathroom a few minutes later, completely dressed in black tights and a longer, light-pink colored shirt she headed for the stairs, her long hair cascading down her back.

The kitchen looked ... clean. The brunette stepped over to the sink.

"Aha! Got you..." She mumbled. She couldn't see any dishes. Hinata must've cleaned them up the night before even though they told her not to. This girl was _way_ too kind.

Tenten opened the fridge and pulled the milk and the orange juice out, poured herself a glas of the latter and put it back in. The cereal was another problem.

_Where would I hide, if I was a box of cereal..._ The brunette thought and started going through the drawers.

"Morning." Said a voice behind her and she jumped so bad that she hit her head on the drawer she was currently searching.

"OW!"

The other person didn't even say sorry. No, she just snickered at her clumsiness. That could only mean one person.

"Morning, Ino, nice of you to scare me to death." Tenten grumbled and closed the drawer.

"Sorry." Ino giggled and wiped an imaginary tear from her cheek. "What are you doing in there anyway?"

"Looking for cereal."

"Ah. Can I have some?"  
>"No."<p>

"What?" Ino looked a little dumbstruck.

"No. I haven't found it yet." Tenten giggled at her expression.

"Oh. Try the top drawer on the left!" Ino suggested. Tenten shrugged and stepped over. And there they were, three different kinds of cereal!

"H-How did you know that?!" The brunette exclaimed surprised.

Ino just shrugged. "I'd hide there, if I was cereal... What?" She added as Tenten looked at her funny.

"Nothing." She mumbled and prepared their cereal bowls.

"Do you want some coffee?" Ino asked and started to work on the coffee machine.

"Sure." Tenten said and sat down with a spoon.

Footsteps could be heard and Hinata and Sakura appeared in the door to the kitchen.

"Good morning." They greeted, still a little sleepy.

"Morning. Coffee?" Ino greeted back.

"Please." Sakura sighed and sat down.

"I'd like some tea, is there any?" Hinata asked and started to look through the drawers.

"I guess I saw some over there." Tenten said and crunched her cereal.

"Are there any plans for today?" Ino asked and Hinata shrugged.

"T-The books and time tables aren't ready until tomorrow..." She said.

"I-I'd like to look around this place. My group were the last to arrive last night." Sakura said from the other side of the table. She was still a little uncomfortable around these girls that seemed to already know each other, but she wasn't about to let herself be the outsider in this. Those were her new roommates, she would go to school with them and live with them. They'd be together almost 24/7. She was determined to get along with them.

"How about we'll introduce you to the boys and lure them into coming with us, too?" Tenten grinned.

"Sure." Sakura smiled. The sooner she got to know everyone the better. She wouldn't have to be all anxious about finding friends anymore.

The boys had started their day not that different from the girls.

Sasuke had risen first and started to cook up some coffee, the smell of which had awoken Kiba and Akamaru. Naruto was crawling into the kitchen just now, craving for the black liquid. Kiba just laughed at him and took Akamaru out into the garden through the door next to the sink for his morning walk.

The blond had not so much as sipped his beverage when a shrill ringing sounded from the front door.

Naruto looked at Sasuke who sat at the kitchen table in his pyjama pants, reading the morning paper - wherever he had gotten that from. Their eyes met for a second, then Sasuke casually turned back to the paper. Naruto sighed and walked to answer the still ringing door.

The sun was blinding him as he opened the door. Upon blinking a few times, his vision cleared. The sun wasn't as brigth as he had thought, it was being reflected by the shiny blonde hair of one Yamanaka Ino, who currently wore a pretty cocky grin edged onto her face.

"Oh, Naruto, you didn't have to strip for us before answering the door." She laughed in his face.

Naruto - only now realizing that he was wearing nothing but his pyjama pants - blushed furiously.

"Ah, m-morning, I-Ino, G-G-Girls." He tried to play it off.

"All right, all right, let the poor boy off." Tenten giggled from behind Ino. "Or else he or Hinata might faint."

Ino turned around, surprised. Hinata? She burst out laughing when she saw that Hinata's face was equally as red as Naruto's.

Still giggling she turned around, pattet the blond boy's upper arm and slipped inside, followed by a still giggling Tenten and a highly colored Hinata.

But that wasn't all. A pink haired girl stepped up to him, a faint blush on her cheeks as well.

"Er, hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. I live with Ino and the others." She introduced herself shyly.

"Er, hi!" Naruto mumbled. That was _quite_ a cute girl!

"I-I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." He took the hand she offered him and shook it awkwardly.

"Well, come in." He smiled at her, getting back to his old self.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled at him sweetly and followed him in.

Ino was still giggling when she entered the kitchen just the same time Kiba did from the door that lead to the garden.

"Good morning." She cheered and giggled again as she saw their dress-ups.

Sasuke wore checkered long legged pyjama pants and was reading a morning paper. Kiba wore pyjama pants, too, and a sweat jacket with a furry collar over his bare chest.

Well, well, she had to admit, she got herself quite _well built_ friends there.

"What have you done?" Sasuke asked without looking up.

"Nothing!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah right." Kiba scoffed, but hugged her with one arm as he passed her. "Coffee?"

"Sure, thanks." Ino smiled at the warm welcome.

"Hey, me too!" Tenten's voice rang from behind Ino and the blonde girl quickly freed the doorway and walked over to Sasuke and sat next to him, ruffling his hair.

"Agh. Yeah, good morning to you too, Ino." He snatched her hand off his head and then motioned for her to look over at the others.

The blonde followed his look and saw Kiba handing Tenten her coffee mug with a loving smile. The brunette took it and thanked him with a nice smile, accompanied by a small kiss on the cheek.

Ino's eyebrows shot up and turned back to Sasuke with a growing grin on her face. Sasuke caught her gaze, raised his left eyebrow a little and returned her smirk. The smirk stayed on his face when he released her hand and went back to his paper.

Her coffee mug was placed before her by Kiba and she mumbled a 'thanks', still grinning at Sasuke's profile.

Naruto lead Sakura into the kitchen, where Ino already sat between a giant dog and a boy with jet black hair that took her breath away immediately. He was just _so _good looking.

"Dobe, how about you get some more chairs." The darkhaired boy said without looking up from his paper.

Sakura furrowed her brows. Dobe? Who was that supposed to be?

"Argh! Teme!" Naruto yelled from next to her. "You know, sometimes you're as lazy as Shikamaru!"

And with that he stomped off.

"Where is he anyway?" Tenten asked.

"Who?"

"Shikamaru!"

"He's still asleep." Kiba said and shrugged.

"You gotta be kidding me." Tenten said.

"Nope."

"Ah, have you tried to wake him up?" Ino asked.

"Of course we have." Naruto said as he stomped back into the kitchen with two additional chairs. "But he just won't get up. He just rolls over and falls asleep again."

Ino sighed. "I'll nag him out of bed in a second. Just let me introduce you first. This is Sakura. Haruno Sakura. She lives with us. Sakura, this is Akamaru, Kiba's dog-"

"How come you start with introducing Akamaru?" Tenten chuckled and leaned against the counter next to Kiba.

"The nicest first." She shrugged and received an approving bark from Akamaru.

"Ha!" Sasuke said. "Wait, you..." And with that he grabbed her and tickled her sides madly.

"S-s-stop! I-I-I-" Ino gasped. "SASUKE!"

The surrounding people laughed at their behaviour.

"So, Sakura, this is Sasuke, as you might have heard. Uchiha Sasuke. Then this boy next to me," Tenten continued Ino's introduction, "is Inuzuka Kiba, my best friend."

"Yeah, I've heard of you." Sakura smiled.

"Oh no, what have you said about me?" Kiba looked over at Tenten, a pained expression on his face.

"Only the worst things I know." She grinned evilly.

"Yeah, right." Kiba rolled his eyes.

"So, you already know Naruto and the last one is Nara Shikamaru, the one that I will nag out of bed right now." Ino picked up again.

"Oh, I already feel sorry for him." Sasuke mumbled and got a hit over the head.

She tiptoed her way into his room. She had found his room last, of course, but at least she had found it. He had the same room as Hinata, light green painted walls and dark furniture.

"Shikamaru, get up. It's almost noon. We want to take a look at the village, get to know the other classmates... maybe meet some other people from around here... Are you even listening to me?" She ranted.

A low grumbling sound came from the bundle of blankets. She could see some hair peaking out. It was let down. Ino stopped. She hadn't thought of that. What would he look like with his hair down?

The blonde shook her head and sent her blonde locks flying. That wasn't the time to think about things like this.

"Shikamaru I'm warning you. Get up _now_, or you'll regret it." She said threateningly.

More grumbling.

"Okay, you wanted it." She mumbled to herself and took a few steps back from his bed.

Then she measured where he would be and jumped.

Shikamaru's eyes shot open in a flash and stared at her in shock.

"Morning." She smiled at im sweetly.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" He growled.

"Mh, maybe." She answered non-chalantly.

"That's not funny, girl." Shikamaru growled at her again and turned onto his back, running his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, well I don't think so either. It is pretty _sad_ actually, that you still haven't managed to get up. We want to check out the village, meet some new people... Spent some time together, you know?" She spluttered on while she wondered if his hair was as soft as it looked. It looked really nice, she had to admit that.

"So what do you do to your hair?" She asked him, following her train of thought.

"What?"

"I said what do you do to your hair? It looks so soft." She explained.

"Nothing." He scoffed and eventually got up. He sat on the side of the bed and put his hair in its usual high ponytail, then stretched.

Shikamaru slowly turned back around to face her.

"What?" She asked.  
>"Won't you leave?"<p>

She scoffed and stretched out on his bed. "Nah, I think I like it here."

"Yeah, right." Shikamaru smirked and stood up by himself, collecting clothes from his cupboard.

"Argh, okay." Ino sighed and got up to walk past him. "Just hurry up, lazy ass."

"Hey." He called out to her.

"Hm?" Ino turned in the door frame.

"Don't you _ever_ wake me up like that again." He said dangerously.

"Then don't sleep in anymore." She scoffed and left.

"So is he up?" Kiba asked as he and Akamaru came up the stairs and met her halfway.

"Yes." She grinned. "He's getting up right now. Where are you going?"

"Getting dressed. I know, I'm eye-candy and you girls would be _delighted_ to have me walk around like that all day-"

Ino scoffed openly.

"But I can't afford another bunch of fan girls at this school." He continued as if nothing had ever happened.

"_Another_?" Ino laughed at him.

"Yeah. I had some at Middle School. A whole bunch actually." He shrugged. "Ask Tenten."

"I will - and you better didn't lie to Mama, boy." She pointed her finger daringly at him while walking down the stairs.

"Hey Tenten!" Ino called as she set foot on the last step and Kiba chuckled.

"Yeah? What is it, Ino?" Tenten's head stuck out of the kitchen door.

Ino came at her laughing. "Did Kiba really have a 'bunch of fan girls' at Middle School?"

"Yeah, actually he had. How did you know?"

"He told me on his way up." Ino told her and sat down on her chair next to Sasuke. "So he really did have fan girls?"

"Yeah." Tenten shrugged. "They were always following him around in groups. Always giggling and whispering and they were hating on me big time. There were always loads and loads of little notes in his locker and in mine. It was _awful_. Oh! Except Valentine's Day!"

Sasuke snickered and Naruto asked: "Why's that? Did you get a day off or something?"

"Did you have him all to yourself?" Sasuke grinned from behind the paper.

"No, you dumbasses." She scolded them. "But he got an incredible amount of chocolate. So we met every Valentine's Day and ate it."

"It was a feast." Kiba had reappeared, leaning against the door frame and grinned down at Tenten, who was sitting in front of him, turning her back slightly to be able to look at him.

"It was." She grinned back.

"So, let me get this straight." A voice behind Kiba said. "You met every year on Valentine's Day to eat the chocolates other girls gave you."

Shikamaru appeared behind Kiba, an eyebrow raised.

"Well... yes." Kiba shrugged.

"You had dates! You've had dates on Valentine's Day for years!" Ino squealed, clasping her hands.

"And pretty mean dates at that." Sasuke chuckled from next to her.

"Huh? Those weren't dates!" Tenten exclaimed quickly.

"Of course they were!" Naruto laughed at their faces. Both were blushing rapidly.

Sakura and Hinata giggled into their hands at their embarrassed friends.

"Ah well, calm down. I had dates on Valentine's Day, too." Sasuke tried to calm them.

"Yeah, like _loads_." Naruto grinned at his best friend.

"Oh yeah." Shikamaru sighed, while he put cereal into his bowl.

"Oh, so you had fangirls, too, Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Awful bunch." He sighed.

"You're kidding." She said.

"No, I'm not." Sasuke said. "The others had them too. Ask them." He motioned over towards Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Seriously?" Sakura asked in surprise.

What kind of boys were they?! Okay, they were kind of good looking... okay, _pretty _good looking, but _fan girls?!_ Seriously?!

"Troublesome lot." Shikamaru sighed.

Naruto chuckled. "I thought they were very nice."

"That's because they brought you enough food to last for days - every day!" Sasuke laughed at him.

"Shut up, Teme!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah, Sasuke, none of us went on as many dates and cut the girls off afterwards as you." Shikamaru backed the blond up.

"Well, what was I supposed to do?! They would've never stop nagging otherwise." Sasuke defended himself and put the paper down. "They just wanted -" He opened his mouth again to say more, but was interrupted rather roughly.

"Woah woah boys, we get it." Ino said rather loudly and put her hands up in front of her. "You've all been ridiculously popular. Won't happen with us, don't get your hopes up. So could you two lazy butts get dressed now so we can get going already?"

Sasuke and Kiba stared at her, flabbergasted. Naruto grinned at the blonde.

Grudgingly Sasuke got up, grabbed Naruto roughly by the back of his neck and dragged the yelping boy out of the kitchen.

When the door slammed behind them, Shikamaru burst out laughing.

"Oh Ino!" He laughed. "I've never seen Sasuke look that bad in an argument with a girl! It'll drive him nuts for _days_!"

Kiba chuckled and clapped her back from next to Akamaru.

"Ah, he'll live." Ino shrugged.

When Naruto and Sasuke returned, Sasuke still fuming a little, they headed off for the centre of the village.

It was a pretty village, the girls thought. All houses were white as the ones they had seen on their way in, only a few buildings had mosaique patterns on them. There were several small stores for groceries, some basic clothes (mostly black, grey and dark blue, the girls were taken aback by that!) and school utensils like paper and pens.

It was afternoon when they approached the centre of the village. Ino almost expected to see a weekly market propped up there, it would fit the image of the village, but she was disappointed.

They approached a large free space - where a weekly market could've taken place with no doubt - but instead, there were - still closed - cafés around it and a large fountain occupied the middle.

The girls were in awe. What a pretty foutnain that was! Thin lines were curling around the whole thing, decorating it, in the middle, where they supposed an actual fountain would appear once school started, stood a very aesthetic sculpture of a woman and a man dancing, surrounded by waves. It mgiht've been rather classic but it was still very pretty in its perfect white. Ino wondered how on earth the sculpture and the fountain could be that white! They were outside all day in every weather!

"Oh no." Kiba sighed next to Tenten and she looked at him, woken from her trance.

"What?"

"Girls." Kiba said and nodded towards the fountain.

Tenten and the others looked from the boys to where Kiba had motioned to. In fact, there was a rather huge bunch of girls, all standing in groups and talking to each other. The girls' jaws dropped a little. How could they not have seen them?! They stood all around the fountain!

Ino looked back to the boys to ask a question, but was silenced by the looks on their faces. Shikamaru, Kiba, Sasuke and even Naruto looked anything but excited to see the girls. Their faces had turned into scowls and they shot little daggers at the girls talking around the fountain.

"Come on, you don't even know them, you can't hate them yet!" Ino exclaimed instead.

"Watch me." Shikamaru grumbled.

Ino sighed. They were so troublesome!

"Suit yourselves, I'm going to meet them." She said and turned around in a rush, letting her hair collide with Sasuke's face who stood behind her, and stomped off towards the fountain.

Naruto could hear Sasuke growl angrily at her and shook his head at the blonde, a grin sneaked across Naruto's face. That girl had some nerve.

The other girls needed only a second to follow Ino towards the bunch of girls - and boys as Tenten noticed when she neared the crowd.

"Split up?" She asked the others while they were still walking.

"Yes." Ino said and the other girls nodded. They split only a few feet further on, each diving into the crowd on her own.


	5. Chapter 5

Shikamaru sighed as he watched the girls split up and disappear into the crowd. He should've stayed in bed.

"Hey." Said a voice on his right. Shikamaru turned his head to see Neji approach them.

"Hey." He replied.

"You don't happen to know where my cousin is?" He asked and stood beside him.

"Yeah, she vanished into that crazy mob." Sasuke growled. Neji looked at him a little funny. What was wrong with the guy? He hadn't been in such a bad mood the day before, had he?

"Crazy mob?"

"He's angry at Ino." Shikamaru told him.

"The blonde?"

"Yep." Naruto nodded. To his surprise, Neji chuckled.

"I can imagine that, she's a hand full." He grinned.

"Yeah, she is." Shikamaru joined his grinning.

"I don't know what you mean, but I think she's awesome!" Naruto grinned along with them stupidly.

Shikamaru and Neji looked at him weirldy.

They stood there for a while, chatting lightly, not really in the mood to join the 'crazy mob'.

"Oh well, I'm going to go find Hinata." Neji sighed after a few minutes. "And I'd look for your girls, too. There are some weird guys here, that I wouldn't want them to meet."

"What kind of weird?" Sasuke asked.

"Meh, let's say I wouldn't let them go anywhere alone with them... or go at all... or even talk to them... ah well. I'll see you later." He waved and walked off.

Shikamaru furrowed his brows and looked at the other three. They looked back at him with the same slightly worried look on his face. To his surprise it was Sasuke who stormed after Neji first, the others following only a step behind.

Sakura looked around as she fought her way through the many students of Konoha Institution. Which group should she approach? Who looked nice enough to not scare her off immediately?

Eventually she settled on a brown haired girl with bright brown eyes and purple stripes on her face. She reminded her of Kiba. That thought made Sakura chuckle to herself as she approached the girl.

"Hi, I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself as she stood in front of her.

The girl smiled at her happily. "Hey Sakura, I'm Rin. Nice to meet you, too."

"Welcome, oh welcome, youthful Sakura!" A voice to Sakura's right said and she could feel an arm clasp aroud her shoulders rather tightly that swung her around. "I'm Rock Lee, best pupil of Gai-sensei!" The boy yelled into her ear. "How about we celebrate our faithful encounter with a kiss?"

Sakura's eyes widened at that. Fortunately for the pinkette, Rin reacted immediately. She grasped Sakura's hand and with a quick pull she freed her from Rock Lee.

"Shut up, Lee. Let the poor girl live! You can't shock every girl you meet like that! How will you find a nice girl if you scare them off first time you meet them?!"

"But Rin-chan! I can't just hold myself back when a pretty girl walks by!" Lee complained to her.

"So you mean you're a pervert?" she teased him.

"What?! NO! I'm just full of youthful hormones!" He yelled at her, his face getting redder by the second.

Sakura used their debate to look at the boy. He wore a frog green jumpsuit and orange gaiters. His eyes were round like balls and his hair was... well... terrible. What a weird guy.

"I'm Karin." A redhead said next to Lee and extended her hand for Sakura to shake, to break the other's bantering.

"Hey." Sakura said and shook it gratefully.

"And that's Gaara. And no, we're not related. We just met." Karin introduced the redhaired boy next to her dismissively.

"Hello." Gaara said simply and nodded. Sakura returned it shyly.

"I'm Kankuro. _I_ am related to him." The last boy of the group smiled at her.

"Hi." Sakura said and shot him a shy smile back.

"So, which classes are you in? I actually just know the frogman here, I'm dying to have some _normal_ people in my class." Rin sighed. She had obviously stopped scolding the "frogman".

"1-E." Kankuro and Gaara said simultaneously.

"How-?" Sakura was confused. They didn't look like twins. So were they cousins just like the Hyuugas?

"I'm his older brother. But you ca only start this school for first year of high school, so I'm repeating." Kankuro explained and rubbed the back of his head, he seemed a little embarrassed.

"Ah." Sakura smiled at him and giggled a little.

"I'm in 1-F." Karin said simply, then added proudly. "I was almost picked for Athletics."

Sakura gulped. Would she be excluded again if she was the only one that attended the Athletics? Would Karin be angry at her? Or jealous?

"Awww!" Rin whined next to her. "Sakura, tell me that you're in 1-B! I can't take nobody nice in my class!"

"What about Lee?" Kankuro asked with raised eyebrows.

"I will attend the Athletics! I will truly become Gai-sensei's first and best disciple!" Fire was burning in the frogman's eyes as he said that and Sakura's palm slammed against her forehead.

"What was that about?" Karin asked and eyed her curiously.

"I'm in the Athletics as well." Sakura mumbled quietly, hoping against hope, that Lee wouldn't hear what she said.

She had no such luck. Immediately she was back in Lee's green embrace and he yelled in her ear happily.  
>"OH Sakura! We're in the same class! We'll see each other every day and become great friends! You can be Gai-sensei's second best disciple! We will eat together, train together, study together, train together, hang out together, train together, have a great time together and - the best of all - TRAIN TOGETHER!"<p>

He had got to be kidding her. What was wrong with this guy?! Was he mad or something?

Her eyes sought for the help of Rin or Kankuro - or even _Karin_ -, but again, she had no such luck.

She was about to sigh and succumb to her fate, when, surprisingly, a voice from behind her sounded and she was wrenched out of his grasp.

"Hey!"

Tenten too had found herself a little group of boys.

"Hey." She smiled brightly as she stepped into their conversation. "I'm Tenten. I'm in first year of high school. And you?"

The boys just stared at her dumbfoundedly.

"Hellooo?" She waved a hand in front of their faces. "Is anyone there?"

"Err, sorry." A rather chubby boy answered her. "We were just a little surprised."

"I'm Nagasuka Isaka." Said a blonde boy to her left and grinned cheekily at her.

"Akimichi Chouji." Said the chubby boy and pulled out a bag of chips.

"Nagasuka Yahiro." The last boy - who had blue eyes and black hair, she noticed - introduced himself.

"Nagasuka and Nagasuka?" Tenten raised an eyebrow at them.

"We're twins." They said immediately.

Tenten's eyebrows rose even higher. "Twins."

"Yeah, we know. Blonde and raven." Yahiro sighed.

"You should see us wearing matching heads, we look identical." Isaka grinned.

"I'd love to see that." Tenten chuckled.

"Well, I just asked which classes the boys were in." Chouji filled her in. "I'm still waiting on an answer."

"1-E." Isaka and Yahiro said simultaneously.

"If you keep on doing this, I will not only put you in matching hats, but a hydra-costume." Tenten told them dryly.

"Now _that_ I would love to see." Chouji grinned at her.

"So which class are _you_ in, Chouji?" Yahiro asked.

"Athletics."

Three pairs of eyes stared at the chubby boy that happily munched on.

"A-Athletics?" Isaka asked weakly, expecting Chouji to laugh and tell them it was a joke.

"Yep." He said and swallowed. "I'm a wrestler."

"Ahh." Comprehension dawned on the others' faces.

"I'm in Athletics, too." Tenten smiled at the boy.

Chouji smiled back.

"You're in one house with Hyuuga Neji, aren't you?"

"Yes, do you know him?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Yeah, kinda..." Tenten chuckled. "We could go grab lunch sometime, don't you think? I mean if we're in the same class and all. We could get to know everyone sooner!"

"As long as food's involved, I'm in!" Chouji yelled. His mouth already started to water and Tenten assumed he was already imagining what he could eat.

She chuckled at him.

Tenten turned to Isaka and Yahiro and opened her mouth to invite them along, too, when a hand slid into hers.

Confused, she turned around.

Hinata carefully stepped through the crowd. Who should she talk to? Who looked nice enough to not be annoyed by her presence? She bit her lip and scanned the people around her. Many of them didn't look particularly nice... High school really seemed to be a harsh place.

After a few more minutes skimming through the crowd, she discovered a little group on the "outskirts" of the assembly.

A boy stood there with two girls, chatting rather quietly.

Carefully, the bluenette approached them.

"H-Hey." She said quietly and shuddered silently as all eyes turned on her. "I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata. N-N-Nice to meet you."

To her surprise, she was met with the same stuttering and shyness as her own.

"S-Soharu I-Ikimy. Nice to meet you, too." The blonde, very thin boy said.

"Sa-Sakai Miharu. Nice to m-meet you." A brunette opposite her said.

The remaining girl giggled at their behavior. "Kurosaki Mayu. Nice to meet you, too, Hinata."

Hinata looked at Mayu. She had blonde hair, brown eyes and tiny freckles on her cheeks. She looked rather confident.

"I'm in class 1-B." She smiled at her. "Ikimy and Miharu are, too."

"Oh." Hinata said a little sad. "I'm in the A-A-Athletics..."

"What do you mean 'oh'? That's great! How did you get in?!" Mayu smiled at her broadly.

"My cousin's in second year in Athletics... So my father applied for me to go in, too." She explained.

"I-I'm a little jealous." Miharu said quietly and smiled at her, too. "I think it would be great to be part of such a s-special class."

"Oh. Err, I don't really know that yet... We haven't met anyone a-and school hasn't even started..."

Ikimy smiled. "Maybe we have some classes together?"

"Maybe." Hinata smiled.

"We'll know sunday, won't we." Mayu said.

"Yes. I-I really hope we'll meet again."

"Pah." Said a voice behind Hinata and she turned around.

There was another boy that she had never seen before - not very surprising, she thought.

He was taller than all of them and wore a furry coat around his shoulders.

"Pah?" Mayu asked and furrowed her brows at the boy.

"If I were you, girl, I wouldn't spend my time with those trashes." He eyed Mayu, Miharu and Ikimy arrogantly.

"What?" Hinata was so perplexed, she even forgot to stutter.

"If you're an Athletic, you're special. You shouldn't have to hang around with _those_ people." He shrugged.

"May I asked who the heck you are, talking about us like that?" Mayu growled at him. She reminded Hinata of Ino in that moment.

"Ajirame Dozu, second year Athletic. I-" He was about to say something, when suddenly, he narrowed his eyes at something or someone behind their group and started to growl audibly at it.

Hinata and the others turned around with furrowed brows.

"Hey, I'm Yamanaka Ino, first year of High School, part of the Athletics class. And who are you?" Ino babbled as she stepped into a chatting group of three girls.

They looked back at her a little perplex.

"I'm Temari." A blonde girl recovered first.

"I'm in class 1-E. And damn you! I wanted to get into the Athletics, too!" She said after that, but delivered the rather harsh words with a teasing smile.

"Haha. Sorry." Ino rubbed the back of her head. "I didn't even know that my parents applied until yesterday."

"I'm Kin." A blackhaired girl said without looking at them.

"Erm... hi." Ino said a little confused and looked back at Temari who shrugged. They seemed to be of the same opinion - Kin was a rather weird girl.

"Oh that's okay. I didn't want to go, so I'll save you from Temari." The last girl grinned at them.

Ino turned her attention to her only now. The first thing she saw was her flaming red hair. It was a little longer than to her shoulders and seemed to burn even more in the sun. The second thing Ino noticed were her eyes. Sparkling purple pools looked back at her and - to her surprise - they looked absolutely perfect in combination with her hair! She looked kind of familiar though... The blonde wondered. She would have remembered if she had ever seen such a pretty girl before, wouldn't she? Of course she would, so how could she look so familiar?!

"My name is Sukashira. Suka's sufficient." The redhead snapped Ino back inot reality. "If you're an Athletic, you should get to know my cousin pretty soon..."

The redhead started lookig around the crowd for him.

"Ah! There!" She said after a moment and a demonic grin spread across her face.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ajirame Dozu, second year Athletic. I-" He was about to say something, when suddenly, he narrowed his eyes at something or someone behind their group and started to growl audibly at it.

Hinata and the others turned around with furrowed brows.

"Hyuuga." Dozu growled.

For a second, Hinata thought he had meant her, but then she saw him. Neji had stepped out of the crowd and stood behind Miharu who jumped to Ikimy's side out of shock immediately.

"N-Neji? W-What are you doing here?" Hinata asked him cautiously. Her cousin didn't look very amused.

"Dozu." He said coldly. "I didn't think I'd see you this year. Did the headmistress let you pass to second year after all? I didn't expect her to. Or did your father some persuading with his money?"

Dozu's eyes narrowed even more. "At least, I didn't have to sleep with her, like _some._"

Hinata's head flew around to face her cousin. He didn't - did he? Only faintly she saw her actions mimicked by her new friends.

But Neji's expression didn't waver. He only scoffed.

"Of course."

Then he stepped next to Hinata, who stood nearest to Dozu and took her hand.

"You are dealing with my cousin, here, Ajirame. Did you know? I hope you didn't bother her." He said calmly.

"You wouldn't be able to do anything about it, if I did." Dozu answered him coldly.

Hinata could feel her cousin's grip tighten on her hand. Then he smiled coldly and took another step towards Dozu, who shrunk back a little.

"Listen, Ajirame. If you lay a hand on her or her friends, you will _not_ _live_ to tell the tale. Do I make myself clear?" He growled quietly, but still loud enough for the whole group to hear.

Hinata could see Dozu gulp hard and sweat seemed to form on his forehead.

But he didn't say anything else, he growled one more time and then dashed to vanish into the crowd.

"Don't ever get involved with him." Neji said to Hinata, then seemingly like an afterthought, he added: "All of you. He's not worth your trouble."

"Thanks, Neji." Hinata said quietly. Neji nodded.

"Come on." He tugged on her hand. "I'll take you to Kiba, we want to go home."

Hinata nodded and quickly turned to her new friends.

"See you at school!" She waved, smiling slightly and then she was dragged off around the assembled students and to the opposite of the crowd.

When they approached Kiba, Hinata noticed that he looked absolutely _pissed._ Just like Neji still did.

Her cousin stood her next to the dogboy barked a "Don't lose her!" and vanished again.

Kiba threw his arm around her shoulders told her not to move and then continued growling and being pissed.

What the hell had happened?!

She was about to sigh and succumb to her fate, when, surprisingly, a voice from behind her sounded and she was wrenched out of his grasp.

"Hey!"

Next thing she knew, Sakura was in another embrace. But this time it was not... well, _crazy_, but protective.

Sakura looked up to see Naruto standing next to her, growling at the frogman.

"What do you think you're doing? Can't you see, that she isn't comfortable with this?" He asked Lee angrily.

"Oh, Naruto- I-" Sakura tried to ease the tension, but Rin yelled her down.

"Hey! What do _you _think _you're_ doing?!" She stepped up to Naruto and poked his chest angrily.

"I- who- wha-?!" Naruto stuttered stupidly.

"And who the heck are you anyway?!" Rin poked him again and he didn't say anything more, he just stared dumbfoundedly.

Sakura finally freed herself from Naruto's arm and tried again to explain the situation.

"Naruto, thank you, but it's okay. Sorry, Lee. Rin, Lee, everyone, this is my friend, Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto those are Lee, Rin, Gaara, Kankuro and Karin." She explained. "We just met and discovered that Lee is an Athletic, too."

"Really?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the frogman.

"Yes." Lee said and gave him a thumbs-up. "Are you one of the youthful Athletics, too?"

"Er...Yes." Naruto said.

"Great! Let's be youthful together, then! We can train together, eat together, train together and study together!" Lee grinned broadly.

Sakura dared a look at Naruto's reaction.

"AWESOME!" He yelled and jumped into the air. "You're alright, frogman!"

Sakura stopped dead. Did he really just call him what she had called him in her head all the time?! She just hoped that Lee wasn't insulted by this. He looked pretty strong...

But Lee just laughed. "A frog is very explosive, Rin says. She calls me this since we first met!"

Sakura felt like sinking to the floor. This conversation was too troublesome for her... And now she felt that she sounded like Shikamaru. Great.

"Naruto, did you need something?" She asked the boy to her left.

"Oh... No, Neji just told us to look out for you girls." He shrugged.

"Er... Why?"

"He said there are some weird guys running around."

Simultaneously they turned to look at Lee, who was telling Kankuro how lucky he was to have a brother to spar with.

Sakura giggled. "Thanks Naruto, seriously."

"Yeah, no problem." Then he looked around. "Come on, I can see Kiba and Hinata standing back there, they seem to be waiting for us."

"Bye, frogman!" Naruto yelled and waved as he dragged Sakura away by her shoulders.

"Bye youthful brother!"

Tenten turned to Isaka and Yahiro and opened her mouth to invite them along, too, when a hand slid into hers.

Confused, she turned around.

- 30 minutes earlier -

Then she sighed. Who else would be that bold to just grab her hand that casually?

"Kiba, what do you want?"

"Found some new friends?" He grinned down at her. "Hey, I'm Kiba!"

As the others introduced themselves to the still grinning dogboy, Tenten was surprised to see Neji standing directly behind Kiba.

"Akimichi Chouji." Chouji said. "But I don't think it's friends when you have only talked for five minutes and then be interrupted."

Kiba furrowed his brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Neji stepped next to Kiba and looked down at the chubby boy.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't interrupt her when we're just planning to get something to eat." Then he looked at the way Neji's and Kiba's bodies had tensed up, he added: "Who are you anyway? She doesn't need bodyguards."

Kiba started to growl at the boy. "What was that?"

"Don't you think that's a little impolite?" Neji asked, with a cold smile.

Tenten grabbed their arms and burried her nails in their flesh as they didn't react to her pulling.

"Shut up. Both of you." She hissed. Isaka and Yahiro just looked on curiously.

"Oh, just the pet dogs?" Chouji snickered.

Kiba growled and leapt forwards, Tenten's nails scratching over his skin until she lost her grip. But to his surprise Neji was already hovering over the boy looking down at him.

"Chouji, we're living together, so I recommend you don't mess with my friends." He said coldly.

Chouji's muscles tensed and were suddenly visible. He wasn't as chubby as Tenten had thought, he was quite muscular.

Nobody moved for a moment, then Isaka, Yahiro and Tenten stepped in at once.

"Hehehe, come on boys, it's enough." Isaka put up his hands soothingly.

"Yeah, I think that's all a great misunderstanding." Yahiro nodded.

"Calm down, let's go now, Neji, Kiba." Tenten grabbed their arms again and started to drag them off, this time with greater success.

_Sorry_, she mouthed to Isaka and Yahiro, who were blocking her view of Chouji. The twins nodded and waved her goodbye, obviously relieved that the action was over.

"What the _hell_ was that all about?!" Tenten turned around to face them once they were a little away from the crowd. She was more than angry.

"What?!" Barked Kiba. He was still angry, too. "Didn't you get what he wanted?!"

"Wha- What he _wanted_?! We wanted to get lunch together, Kiba, _lunch!_ You know what that is?!"

"Yeah, you know who I went out to _lunch _with?!" Kiba yelled.

"Oh come on, you can't- He's not like _you_! It was my idea to get lunch! To _talk_, to get to know each other! He's an Athletic, too!"

"Oh great." Kiba groaned. "Yeah, he was fairly intersted in _getting to know you_."

"What the heck! Are you mad?! Neji! Why didn't you hold him back?! You seemed to know Chouji!" Tenten turned at the other brunette.

"What do you expect me to say?!" He didn't yell like Kiba did, but his voice was still raised, which schocked Tenten into silence for a second.

"I-I want you to tell him that he's got it _all wrong_!"

"Yeah right." Kiba scoffed.

"Shut up!" She yelled at him, then turned back again. "So?"

"No." Neji said.

"What?"

"No. Tenten, didn't you _see_ the way he looked at you?!" Neji said loudly.

"The _way he looked at me_?! He was hungry, damnit! So am I! Am I not allowed to talk to hungry people?!" She yelled at them. This was getting ridiculous.

"Tenten." Kiba growled and sighed. "Have you ever thought that it wasn't the same hunger, that _you're_ thinking of?"

"Wha-?"

"Tenten, I'm living with this guy, he's not as innocent and nice as you may think. You shouldn't meet him again. Or the other two guys for that matter." Neji said calmly.

"ARE YOU STUPID?!" Tenten screamed at them. She really didn't care that they were receiving weird looks from the crowd.

"You've been living with him since _yesterday,_ Neji! You ain't know nothing about him! And you know nothing about me! So shut the hell up! And you!" She turned to Kiba. "I really thought you knew that I can look out for myself! I can talk to the people I want, anytime I want and if I chose them to be my friends over you, then you shouldn't be surprised anymore!"

She turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Tenten!" Kiba yelled after her.

"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" She screamed back.

Kiba sighed as she vanished around a corner. "Why do girls always have to be so difficult?"

"No idea." Neji sighed. "I'll get the others, I think we should really go home now..."

"Yeah..." Kiba said and looked after where Tenten had vanished.

Neji nodded and set off to find his top priority target - his cousin.

Neither saw the shadow that disappeared around the corner after Tenten.

The redhead started lookig around the crowd for him.

"Ah! There!" She said after a moment and a demonic grin spread across her face.

Ino turned around and saw nobody really looking at them and was a little confused.

"HEEEY! DUMMY!" Suka yelled and waved.

Only seconds later, Sasuke emerged from the crowd.

Ino's jaw dropped. Like, to the floor.

"You- She- Huuuh?!" Ino was totally shocked.

"Oh no." Sasuke said. "I see you've met."

"Hello Sasuke." Suka grinned at him.

"Hey Suka. I feared that you two would get along."

"_That's_ your cousin?!" Ino almost yelled.

Sasuke winced. "Yes, Ino, that's my little cousin, Uchiha Suka."

"Sasukeee!" Suka whined. "How many times do I have to tell you, that you shouldn't always introduce me as your _little_ cousin! Those two weeks make you that much older, you know."

"They still do." Sasuke grinned.

"Idiot!" Suka knocked her cousin on the head.

To Ino's surprise, Sasuke knocked her back and immediately a fight broke out.

Ino stepped back, together with Temari and Kin. Not shortly after that, they started to snicker, chuckle and then openly laughed at the cousins that were still bickering and exchanging punches.

"You're so weird!" Temari was still laughing 5 minutes later, when they had calmed down a little.

Suka and Sasuke looked up at her.

"We're not!" They yelled.

"Seriously?" Ino gasped. "Look at yourselves!"

Sasuke lay on the ground, Suka sitting on top of him, every now and then tickling his sides.

The Uchihas grinned at each other, stood up and then blushed, obviously embarrassed, because they had gathered quite a crowd around them.

"Well," Sasuke cleared his throat. "Come on, Blondie, let's go look what the others are up to, okay?"

"They've most likely seen you roll on the floor." Ino laughed and winked at the girls that giggled back, before Sasuke dragged her off into the crowd.

Halfway through Sasuke and Ino met Naruto who shoved Sakura in front of him through the people.

"Kiba and Hinata seem to be waiting for us back there." Naruto informed them and the other two nodded and followed them.

Neji - who looked surprisingly different today, Ino thought - found them only a few steps after that and lead them to where Kiba still had his arm around Hinata who looked very uncomfortable.

As soon as Neji stepped in front of them Kiba withdrew his arm.

"Thanks." Neji said and Kiba nodded in recognition.

"Found them all?" The dogboy asked.

"Yes." Neji said.

Kiba looked along the lines of his friends, then furrowed his brows. "Where's Shikamaru?"

Everyone else looked around.

"I last saw him when we went to save the girls." Naruto said.

"_Save_ the girls?" Ino asked, her brows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Kiba sighed, he looked tired. "Don't ask, I already had this kind of argument today."

"Where's Akamaru?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Kiba looked a little stupid for a second, then turned his head. "I-I don't know. Akamaru? Akamaru!"

No response. Kiba shrugged. "He'll find his way home."

Neji sighed. This day was terribly exhausting. "Let's go home. I'm getting a headache."

"I'm really hungry." Ino said. "The fridge's right."

"Fridge?" Everyone turned at her, Sakura and Sasuke chuckled.

"Ah, sorry. I mean Neji." She stuck her tongue out and scratched her cheek.

The others laughed.

Even Neji chuckled. "You're alright, Yamanaka."


	7. Chapter 7

It was past midnight when the Athletics' houses came into sight.

Tenten shivered. It was still a little walk until she got there, so she thought she could just adress her persuer right now. She had noticed him ages ago, anyway.

"Shikamaru, step out already!" She said to the darkness.

Two shadows stepped out from behind a house.

"How long?"

"Ages ago. It was still bright." She said. Then something wet touched her hand and she jumped violently. She looked down and saw Akamaru.

"Akamaru, you too?" She smiled at the dog and patted his head.

"He never lost your trace." Shikamaru said.

Tenten shivered again. She was damned cold and tired.

Shikamaru sighed and walked over to her. He opened the zipper of his jacket. Confused, Tenten looked at her, then he took her arms and placed them around his waist, pulling her against his chest.

Tenten blushed brightly.

"Better?" He asked and rubbed her back.

The brunette nodded. "Thanks."

Shikamaru sighed. "Good. It was getting on my nerves since two hours ago."

"Er... sorry?"

Shikamaru yawned and mumbled something.

"What?"

"I said I'm almost falling asleep even though I'm on my feet."

"Shikamaru?"

"Hm?"  
>"You're always falling asleep while you're on your feet."<p>

They got to the girls' hous after a couple minutes more.

"Shikamaru?" Tenten said quietly?

"What?"

"Why did you come after me? Didn't you look after anyone else?" She asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, wouldn't you've wanted to go after Ino?"

"Why would I? Sasuke went after her and she doesn't need that. She's pretty tough on her own." The darkhaired Nara shrugged. "And nobody would survive with her for longer than a few hours. They'd most likely give her back willingly - Ouch!"

Tenten had slapped his stomach - the only place she could reach from under his arm and inside his jacket. A light grin on her face.

"How long did you say you know each other?" She grinned.

"Surprisingly short." He said. "But it's the same with Naruto and Sasuke."

"So why did you walk after _me_?" Picked the earlier topic up.

"Well, you were agitated. You had had a fight with Neji and Kiba, didn't you? A girl shouldn't walk off alone when she's mad. My mother taught me that... might be the only thing that ever stuck with me." He shrugged.

Tenten's eyes were huge. "Your mom raised you to be a gentleman."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"A gentleman?" His brows rose high up.

"Yes. Definitely." Tenten nodded and smiled.

"Thanks again for today. Goodnight." She hugged him tightly and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Then she vanished into her home.

Inside, Tenten saw light was still burning in the living room.

She took off her shoes and walked over to see who was still up.

Tenten smiled lovingly as she saw the scene before her. Hinata, Sakura and Ino lay across couches and armchairs, all fast asleep. They must've wanted to wait for her. Their teacups were still on the table.

The brunette snickered quietly. She walked into the kitchen to get herself a glass of milk, changed, then she grabbed the spare blankets from the living room and started to drape them around her friends.

When she put the blanket around Sakura, the pinkette opened her eyes sleepily.

"Tenten?"

"Hey. I'm back. Go back to sleep, I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?"

Sakura nodded tiredly, her eyes already drooping again.

"Tenten?" She asked again, when she asked again, when Tenten settled down on the last unoccupied armchair.

"Hm?"

"Did you drink some milk from the kitchen?"

Tenten was very confused now. "Wha- yes, I did. How-"

"You got a moustache."

"Oh." She giggled. "Thanks. Good night Sakura."

"Night..." She mumbled.

Oh, if only Akamaru&Shikamaru's arrival at the boy's home would be just as quiet and easy. Of course it wasn't.

He was still thinking that his mother had gotten what she wanted - a gentleman for a son, great. Then, he saw that light was still burning in the living room.

"What the heck?" He muttered and walked into the room, the dog at his heels.

There they were, his roommates, sprawled on the several couches and armchairs, each a beer in front of them, each a little stupid looking. He saw a few other bottles in the corner of the room. Oh great.

"I thought you're not allowed to drink during school?" Shikamaru asked. None of his friends had noticed him until that moment, now their heads spun around.

"Ah, Shikaaa!" Sasuke slurred. "Nice of you to drop byyyy."

"How did you get the beer?" He repeated his question more pointedly.

"Neeeejiii! He's a'right man!" Kiba said rather loudly and stuck his beer in the air.

"Neji? What the heck?! Why did he give it to you?"

"He didn' _give it_ to us. He brought it with him!" Naruto said and hiccuped.

"With him? Is he still here?"

"Ye-hic-s."

"Where?" To that question, the other three boys started giggling madly.

"Under the taaaaable!" Sasuke giggled, taking another swig of his beverage.

"You're kidding."

"Naaaaahhh! Loooooook!" Naruto giggled.

Shikamaru bowed down. In fact, there were feet.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Shikamaru groaned. "Why did he bring the alcohol?"

"Because it wasss a shitty day!" Kiba yelled and drank again. "A damned shitty day!"

"Nah, Sasuke an' I jus' like beeeer." Naruto grinned stupidly.

"Okay, guys, come on, let's get you to bed." Shikamaru sighed.  
>"Wha?! Nooo!" Naruto whined.<p>

"You can' tell us when to go to bed!" Sasuke said stubbornly.

"Oh, but I could get Ino over here to nag you all into bed, believe me." Shikamaru grinned.

"Awww, man, Shikaaa. You'e no fuuuun." Naruto sighed, but got up and swayed on the spot.  
>"Come on, I'll help you." Shikamaru guided the blond boy up the stairs and to his room.<p>

As soon as Naruto's head hit the pillow he was out cold.

When he got back down he was surprised that Kiba already set foot onto the first step of the stairs, leaning onto Akamaru.

"Kiba, wait, let me help you." He ran down to the dogboy.

"How is Tenten?" Kiba asked suddenly.

Shikamaru looked at him, he was surprised that he knew that he had gone after her.

"If you're with Akamaru, you've been with Tenten. He must've gone after her to take care of her." He explained, surprisingly clear.

"She's okay. Really cold, but she's okay."

"'s she still mad at us?"

"I suppose so." He shrugged. "Don't worry, you'll make up."

Kiba scoffed as Shikamaru placed him on his mattress. "Thanks _dad_."

"Don't 'dad' me. Night." Shikamaru ruffled Akamaru's furry head. The dog gave a sleepy bark and lay his head down.

"Night."

When he came down the stairs for the third time he couldn't suppress the shivers that ran up and down his spine when he heard the music that was coming from the living room.

He daringly, stepped into the room and found what he had feared. Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji, drunkenly dancing the Macarena to the matching music.

Shikamaru thanked Kami or whoever he could thank for his phone's camera. He pulled it out and started recording until he toppled over and crashed to the floor, laughing so heard, his stomach started to ache in a matter of moments. He would never let them forget this, _never_.

After their dancing, he dragged the swaying Sasuke into his room, then placed a blanket over Neji who had fallen asleep on the couch.

Oh god, how he'd _love_ to have just _one_ quiet day with those friends - but he could just as well abandon the thought on the spot.

Dropping onto his mattress in his room, he closed his eyes and dozed off immediately.


End file.
